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. 2023 Apr 27:151:e77.
doi: 10.1017/S0950268823000596.

Circulation and colonisation of Blastocystis subtypes in schoolchildren of various ethnicities in rural northern Thailand

Abby McCain  1 , Lucsame Gruneck  2 , Siam Popluechai  1   2 , Anastasios D Tsaousis  3 , Eleni Gentekaki  1   2
Affiliations

Circulation and colonisation of Blastocystis subtypes in schoolchildren of various ethnicities in rural northern Thailand

Abby McCain et al. Epidemiol Infect. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Blastocystis is a protist of controversial pathogenicity inhabiting the gut of humans and other animals. Despite a century of intense study, understanding of the epidemiology of Blastocystis remains fragmentary. Here, we aimed to explore its prevalence, stability of colonisation and association with various factors in a rural elementary school in northern Thailand. One hundred and forty faecal samples were collected from 104 children at two time points (tp) 105 days apart. For tp2, samples were also obtained from 15 animals residing on campus and seven water locations. Prevalence in children was 67% at tp1 and 89% at tp2, 63% in chickens, 86% in pigs, and 57% in water. Ten STs were identified, two of which were shared between humans and animals, one between animals and water, and three between humans and water. Eighteen children (out of 36) carried the same ST over both time points, indicating stable colonisation. Presence of Blastocystis (or ST) was not associated with body mass index, ethnicity, birth delivery mode, or milk source as an infant. This study advances understanding of Blastocystis prevalence in an understudied age group, the role of the environment in transmission, and the ability of specific STs to stably colonise children.

Keywords: BMI; Blastocystis; One Health; children; colonisation; subtyping.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare none.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Left panel: Map of Thailand. Middle panel: Close-up of Chiang Rai Province. Right panel: Details of the school grounds. Red dots indicate collection sites.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Blastocystis subtypes (STs) present in humans, animals, and water in a rural elementary school in northern Thailand. STs on arrows indicate overlap. Shaded STs indicate the presence in all sources considered in this study.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Maximum likelihood phylogeny inferred from 175 Blastocystis sequences and 1,392 sites of the SSU rRNA gene. Newly generated sequences are in bold font. Numerical values indicate bootstrap support. Only values above 70 are shown.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Balloon plots of contingency tables of the relationship between variables (rows) and the presence of Blastocystis (columns) in 102 samples. Values represent the frequencies of the presence/absence of Blastocystis. (a) Body mass index z-score. (b) Ethnicity. (c) Birth delivery mode. (d) Milk source.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Balloon plots of contingency tables of the relationship between variables (rows) and the prevalence of Blastocystis subtypes (STs; columns) in 81 samples. Values are the frequencies of Blastocystis STs. (a) Body mass index z-score. (b) Ethnicity. (c) Birth delivery mode. (d) Milk source.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) plots of the association between variables and the prevalence of Blastocystis subtypes (n = 81). (a) MCA plot displaying the observations and the categories. Density (grey) curves indicate the zones that are highly concentrated. (b) MCA factor map with 95% confidence ellipses surrounding the variables used in this study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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